ABSTRACT
Familicide describes the homicide of one or more family members by a perpetrator who then attempts or completes suicide, for most definitional purposes within the following seven days. Occasionally in the literature it is also used more widely to refer to mass homicide of family members whether or not accompanied by suicide. The terms 'altruistic suicide' and 'extended homicide' usually allude to the same phenomenon. The forensic literature identifies two main classifications of familicide: that committed by men who have a history of abusive behaviour towards their families, experiencing rage in the face of rejection by their partner, and that which arises from depressive ideation, where annihilation of the family is rationalized by the perpetrator as offering rescue from perceived adversity or catastrophe.
